


a little bit stressed out

by wreckingtomlinson (karasunonolibero)



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Actor Harry, Actor Shawn, Alternate Universe, Humor, M/M, does this count as crack or is it just ridiculous, ok so like 1d doesn't exist but everyone is still famous just in different ways
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-08-14 05:18:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16486610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karasunonolibero/pseuds/wreckingtomlinson
Summary: Shawn takes a deep breath. “He’s scaring me.”“Harry’s scaring you?” Niall frowns. “Listen, he might be a global pop phenomenon and have been part of an Oscar-winning film, but he’s just a regular guy. You saw that in rehearsals. What’s changed? Oh, I know. Does he keep telling you the story about how he used to be a baker?”Shawn shakes his head. “No, I’m not talking about Harry. Harry’s great. I’m talking about his boyfriend.”“Louis? Louis is 5’8.”“And what about it?”~Or, Harry is starring in a romcom, and Louis keeps terrorizing his poor co-star.





	a little bit stressed out

**Author's Note:**

> emma and i were talking about harry being in romcoms and uh...this happened, i guess.
> 
> title comes from [nervous by shawn mendes](https://youtu.be/DGzy8FE1Rhk), naturally.

Shawn swears he’s not going crazy, but he’s pretty sure there’s been a pair of eyes watching him from the shadows all day.

The first time is early in the morning, when he and Harry are sipping coffee in the corner and going over lines while the crew sets up lights and mics. There’s a shape prowling around the perimeter of the studio, and Shawn feels a little like a caged mouse in its presence.

The second time is when he’s sitting in hair and makeup, and Harry comes by and makes a pun that has Shawn in a fit of giggles.

It’s not until after the fourth time that the skulking figure finally steps into the light and reveals himself as—

“Louis!” Harry lights up and dashes toward the shadowy prowler, scooping the figure up in his arms and kissing him.

“Louis—” Shawn repeats, before it dawns on him. He’s being haunted by Louis Tomlinson: music mogul, philanthropist, and Harry’s boyfriend of eight years. “Oh, Louis!”

Louis and Harry separate from their liplock. “That’s me,” Louis says. “And you’re Shawn, Harry’s co-star, right?”

“That’s me,” Shawn says proudly.

Harry jabs an elbow into Louis’ side. “He played Simon in _Love, Simon_ , remember?”

“Oh!” Louis makes a vaguely interested face. “I thought you looked familiar. Cute movie. Love, I’m going to go bother Krystle from catering and see if I can badger her into letting me have a cuppa,” he goes on, turning to Harry and ignoring Shawn completely.

“Of course, Lou.” They kiss again, and Shawn has never felt more like a third wheel in his entire life. Including when he third-wheeled his best friend and his girlfriend on prom night in eleventh grade.

They’re still kissing. Shawn has no idea what to do, so he wanders off to find someone else to talk to.

It’s a very important filming day, as the director, Niall, keeps telling everyone. Today they’re filming the scene where, after weeks of prolonged eye contact and mutual pining, Shawn’s character, Eric, finally works up the nerve to kiss Harry’s character, Brad. In typical romcom fashion, the kiss happens when they’re both relaxing in the hot tub on Harry’s character’s back porch, late in the night after a party and all their other friends have gone home. Which means they’re both shirtless and all Shawn is wearing is a pair of navy blue swim trunks with pink flamingos on them. Harry’s only in yellow shorts, which, for some reason, are unnervingly short, thanks to Caroline in wardrobe. Niall has been banging on about _chemistry_ and _sexual tension_ and _latent desire_ all damn week in rehearsal, but Shawn thinks they have it down.

There’s a half hour of shuffling around the set while the set is dressed and everyone prepares to shoot, and before long Shawn finds himself slipping into the hot tub next to Harry. This is it.

“Hey.” Harry puts a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t be nervous.”

“I’m not nervous.”

“You are so nervous.”

“Maybe a little bit,” Shawn admits. “Which is stupid, ‘cause we’ve been doing great all week.”

“If it makes you feel any better, this is my first movie kiss ever,” Harry tells him. “I didn’t kiss anyone in Dunkirk.”

Fuck, that’s right. And if Harry’s not nervous, then Shawn has no reason to be, either. He nods and moves farther away so they can start the scene. Someone calls “action!”

There’s some more weird banter, some of it sounding a little too close to gay porn, and then it’s time for The Kiss. According to the script, Harry-as-Brad is supposed to start climbing out of the hot tub, only for Shawn-as-Eric to grab him by the wrist to stop him, they share a heated gaze, and then Shawn-as-Eric is supposed to go in for the kiss.

But once Shawn’s grabbed Harry’s wrist and they’re staring longingly at each other, Shawn catches sight of Louis, standing behind one of the cameras. And Louis doesn’t look happy. His arms are crossed and his expression is sour. He looks a little like a crabby lion cub and Shawn would call it adorable, but being on the receiving end of that glare is not adorable at all. Shawn swallows thickly and looks back at Harry, but the moment’s lost and someone calls “cut!”

“Fuck, sorry.” Shawn covers his face and slumps back into the water. “I just kind of—freaked out.”

“It’s alright. Get the bad takes out of the way early, right?” Harry says encouragingly. “It was good up till then, so it’s probably just nerves.”

“It feels so weird to do this with so many people around,” Shawn says by way of an excuse. “But—yeah. Do the bad takes now. They can only get better from here, right?”

They don’t get better. In fact, each take gets increasingly worse, because now that Shawn knows where Louis is lurking, he can’t help but glance over and see him standing there, glaring at Shawn like he’s two minutes away from whacking him over the head with a boom mic, killing him instantly.

From his seat behind one of the cameras, Niall sighs and calls for a fifteen-minute break. Shawn immediately leaves the hot tub and makes a beeline for Niall.

“What’s going on today?” Niall asks. “I know it’s a big scene, but you guys were nailing it in rehearsals.”

“Right, about that.” Shawn takes a deep breath and lowers his voice so only Niall can hear him. “He’s scaring me.”

“Harry’s scaring you?” Niall frowns. “Listen, he might be a global pop phenomenon and have been part of an Oscar-winning film, but he’s just a regular guy. You saw that in rehearsals. What’s changed? Oh, I know. Does he keep telling you the story about how he used to be a baker? That’s enough to make anyone not want to kiss him.”

Shawn shakes his head. “No, I’m not talking about Harry. Harry’s been really great. I’m talking about his boyfriend.”

Niall snorts out a laugh, drawing the attention of a few crewmembers. “Louis? Louis is 5’8.”

“And what about it?” Shawn throws his hands in the air. “He just stands there in the shadows like the Grim Reaper. He doesn’t even say anything, he just stares. I think if looks could kill, I’d be…I don’t know.”

“Killed?”

“Worse!”

Niall pats Shawn on the shoulder. “Why don’t you just talk to him? He’s a great guy once you get to know him.” And then he leaves, waving at an assistant to bring him coffee, leaving Shawn standing in the middle of the studio with people milling all around him.

He glances around for Harry, but Harry’s disappeared. As has Louis. Well, good. Maybe Shawn can go hide in the bathroom long enough to momentarily forget the murderous glances Louis has been giving him from twenty feet away.

He slips into a stall to hide and catch his breath, only to hear the bathroom door opening just seconds after he’s shut his door.

“Lou, you’ve got to stop terrorizing Shawn,” he hears someone—Harry—say.

“I don’t like this scene.” Shawn can’t see Louis, but he can hear the frown in his voice. “I don’t like watching him crawl all over you and touch you and kiss you.”

A pause. Then: “Do you want me to quit the film?”

“I’d never ask you to do that.” Louis sighs. “I’m sorry. It’s just weird to watch, but I know if I don’t watch, then my imagination will just make things worse in my head.”

“I know.” A wet sound that Shawn _hopes_ is a kiss. “Be nice to Shawn for the rest of the day and later, when we get back to my trailer…”

Shawn can’t hear the rest, but he’s glad, because Louis fucking _whimpers_ at whatever Harry says to him, and then the next thing he hears is the sound of clothes rustling and more wet kissing. Oh, god.

“Oh, god,” Shawn mutters under his breath without thinking.

The rustling immediately stops. “Shit, is someone in here?” Louis whispers.

A quick glance under the stalls tells him Louis and Harry are in one, so maybe he can slip out before they notice. He unlocks his door, trying to open it as quietly as possible, but the universe apparently feels the same way Louis does, because the door makes a horrendous squeaking noise as he nudges it open. He freezes.

One footstep. Then Harry’s voice asks, “Shawn, is that you?”

Shawn pitches his voice higher and tries for a different accent. “No.”

“You’re not wearing shoes and your swim trunks are still dripping water all over the floor.”

“Fuck.” Shawn looks down at the shorts in question, glaring at the pink flamingos like they’ve personally betrayed him. “Please don’t kill me.”

“Why would I kill you?” Louis asks, sounding baffled. “I get jealous sometimes, but I’m not about to commit _murder_. I sort of want to make a ‘Cell Block Tango’ joke, but I can’t even think of one.”

“Should we maybe discuss this face-to-face rather than through bathroom stalls?” Harry adds.

“I won’t kill you,” Louis adds. Shawn isn’t sure that’s much of a comfort, but he pokes his head out of the stall anyway. Three stalls down, Louis’ done the same, cheeks slightly pink. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Shawn jerks his hand around in an awkward wave. “Nice to meet you?”

“We’ve already met.”

“Right, right. And you’re not going to kill me.”

Louis sighs, looking contrite. “Sorry I distracted you.”

“Distracted is one way of putting it,” Harry, who is still hiding in the stall, chimes in.

“Can we go back out and try the scene again?” Shawn asks. “And like, actually shoot the kiss?”

“I won’t glare at you anymore,” Louis promises.

“Deal.”

Shawn doesn’t really want to think about what the three of them must look like all exiting the bathroom together, but he figures the crew probably have more important things to deal with than two co-stars and a boyfriend.

Niall claps excitedly once he spots them. “Okay, guys, ready to give this another shot?”

“We’re all good,” Harry tells him, while Shawn slides back into the hot tub. Once they start shooting, Shawn realizes Louis has moved—he’s not in Shawn’s line of sight anymore, which makes this infinitely easier. He takes a deep breath, letting the tension between him and Harry build, and goes in for the kiss.

~

ONE YEAR LATER

Lost In Japan _, the newest film from director Niall Horan, is a surprisingly sparkly little romantic comedy tailor-made for rainy spring nights. While the plot leans a little too heavily on cliches and tropes, what carries the film is the chemistry between the two leads, Harry Styles and Shawn Mendes. Styles plays a roguishly charming Brad against Mendes’s hard-to-get, artistic Eric. The two of them manage to make even the cheesiest lines sound natural in the moment, which is no small miracle in a film where rocks are literally thrown at windows. It’s a satisfying slow burn, peaking with a steamy (pun intended) hot tub scene that absolutely_ sizzles _. Those sick of the romcom genre may find_ Lost In Japan _too cloying, but for those who just want some lighthearted fluff, grab the popcorn and the tissues. – Liam Payne, Vanity Fair_

  


**Author's Note:**

> as always, thanks for reading! if you liked it, come visit me on [tumblr](http://humhalleloujah.tumblr.com) and if you really liked it, you can reblog the fic post [here](https://humhalleloujah.tumblr.com/post/179687341586/a-little-bit-stressed-out-by-humhalleloujah) x


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